It’s been a whirlwind week for Michael Elgin, following the public reveal on December 3rd of private conversations with an alleged sexual assault victim revealed that Elgin had been aware of a former student and wrestler for his own Glory Pro Wrestling sexually assaulting a fan and sat on the news for nearly eight months before the wrestler was released. After getting caught in a Social Media crossfire, Elgin retreated from Twitter after announcing he was selling Glory Pro. He returned the next day to issue a “final statement”, before returning focus to his current wrestling work in NJPW, where he’s teaming with Jeff Cobb in NJPW’s World Tag League tournament.
But it didn’t take long for the mounting evidence presented on-line to sway promoters from many of Elgin’s regular indie promotions to start removing Elgin from upcoming appearances, starting on December 5th from Limitless Wrestling in Maine.
For two years, we've been striving to make Maine a wrestling destination by mixing some of the best locally with some of the best in the world. Most of all, we want to create a FUN & SAFE environment for fans and wrestlers.
Michael Elgin has been pulled off of our event on 1/19.
— Limitless Wrestling (@LWMaine) December 5, 2017
The following day, Toronto, Canada’s Smash Wrestling declared they too were removing Elgin from two upcoming appearances following the news.
STATEMENT- PLEASE READ RE: Dec 17th and Jan 21 pic.twitter.com/GbHcsbQYCE
— Smash Wrestling (@smashwrestling) December 6, 2017
That same day, Sean Radican of the Pro Wrestling Torch noted that Ohio’s top indie promotion, Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW), had scrapped Elgin’s match at their upcoming December 29 card.
The fourth major indie in North America to join the list of promotions removing Elgin was Chicago’s All American Wrestling (AAW), who had Elgin slated to challenge Rey Fenix for the AAW Heavyweight title, released their statement early this afternoon.
The Michael Elgin Situation: pic.twitter.com/nQHp6ZQcXz
— AAW Wrestling (@AAWPro) December 9, 2017
In a strange twist of karma, at two of the scheduled events, Elgin was replaced by his current NJPW tag partner, Jeff Cobb, both at Limitless (where Elgin will face Darby Allin) and in the AAW Heavyweight title match vs Fenix in AAW.
JEFF COBB replaces Michael Elgin at #TheWorldIsOurs on 1/19 in Westbrook! Who would you like to see him face!?
TICKETS: https://t.co/9qmyS3THpb pic.twitter.com/a5dLLEQIAC
— Limitless Wrestling (@LWMaine) December 5, 2017
Since he was in the finals of the Jim Lynam Memorial Tournament, @RealJeffCobb will challenge @ReyFenixMx for the AAW Heavyweight Championship at the Windy City Classic XIII on 12/30 at @BourbonSt115
Get your tickets now at https://t.co/4OhdNIp91n pic.twitter.com/TM8fZfBHHW— AAW Wrestling (@AAWPro) December 9, 2017
The reason for the “karmic” bookings of this is because on December 5th, the alleged victim of the sexual assault released DMs with Michael Elgin that showed a disinterest and seeming low opinion of his New Japan tag partner.
As more and more DMs regarding the situation continue to unfold, it would not be surprising if more indie promotions follow the suit of Limitless, Smash, AIW and AAW and cancel future bookings involving Michael Elgin until the situation is resolved, one way or another. Although one promotion, IWA Mid South, has made it clear they plan to stand beside Michael Elgin through this and continue to book him, as mentioned by IWA Mid South booker John Williams (aka ECW’s Ian Rotten) on his public Facebook page.
As for Michael Elgin’s status with NJPW, his contract runs out in February of 2018, shortly after Wrestle Kingdom 12. At present, Elgin does not have a match booked for the card, but it will be interesting to see how NJPW handles the situation following the World Tag League situation. New Japan isn’t known for keeping people around that may cause the promotion dishonour – Junior Heavyweight star Taichi was suspended for 2 months with a 30% pay cut following the revelation that he’d had an affair back in 2014.
